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Historical Tours England

We provide tours in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. I am a full member of ITGA and ATGI
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I have over 15 years experience as a qualified and Fáilte Ireland approved tour guide in Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland.

10/10/2024

Triton was discovered by British astronomer William Lassell on October 10, 1846, just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune. When John Herschel received news of Neptune's discovery, he wrote to Lassell suggesting he search for possible moons. Lassell did so and discovered Triton eight days later.
Lassell also claimed for a period to have discovered rings.
Although Neptune was later confirmed to have rings, they are so faint and dark that it is not plausible he actually saw them. A brewer by trade, Lassell spotted Triton with his self-built ~61 cm (24 in) aperture metal mirror reflecting telescope (also known as the "two-foot" reflector).
This telescope was later donated to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in the 1880s, but was eventually dismantled.

Triton is named after the Greek sea god Triton (Τρίτων), the son of Poseidon (the Greek god corresponding to the Roman Neptune). The name was first proposed by Camille Flammarion in his 1880 book Astronomie Populaire, and was officially adopted many decades later.
Until the discovery of the second moon Nereid in 1949, Triton was commonly referred to as "the satellite of Neptune". Lassell did not name his own discovery; he later successfully suggested the name Hyperion, previously chosen by John Herschel, for the eighth moon of Saturn when he discovered it.

Triton is the largest natural satellite of the planet Neptune, and was the first Neptunian moon to be discovered, on October 10, 1846, by English astronomer William Lassell. It is the only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit, an orbit in the direction opposite to its planet's rotation.

Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto, Triton is thought to have been a dwarf planet, captured from the Kuiper belt.

Triton is unique among all large moons in the Solar System for its retrograde orbit around its planet (i.e. it orbits in a direction opposite to the planet's rotation). Most of the outer irregular moons of Jupiter and Saturn also have retrograde orbits, as do some of Uranus's outer moons.

01/09/2024

Have just bought a 3 bedroom semi detached house in Ballsbridge.
Willing to swap for two Oasis tickets or a doctor’s appointment

24/08/2024

Mathew Street is a street in , notable as the location of the new , The having played in the original club on numerous occasions in their early career.

is visited by thousands of tourists a year, who visit the Cavern Club and many surrounding attractions including a statue of , a , the and several pubs formerly frequented by the band. A wall in Mathew Street is adorned by a sculpture by entitled "Four Lads Who Shook the World".

The street connects Rainford Gardens (off Whitechapel) to North John Street, and is located in an area of the city centre known today as "The Cavern Quarter". Historically it was the centre of Liverpool's wholesale fruit and vegetable market.

The street was originally named Mathew Pluckington Street, after a famous Liverpool merchant.

It was also home to the influential music club Eric's, which played host to many famous punk and post-punk bands from its opening in 1976, despite only being open for 4 years.

The fame of Mathew Street led to the arrest of 3 men in 2006 when an American in Dallas, Texas, viewing the street's we**am, saw a burglary in progress and called Merseyside Police.

The psychoanalyst is often cited as visiting Liverpool in 1927, but he only recorded a dream in which he had, later published in Jung's autobiography Memories, Dreams, Reflections of which he wrote

"Liverpool is the pool of life, it makes to live."

As a result, a statue of Jung was erected in Mathew Street in 1987, but being made of plaster, was vandalised and replaced by a more durable version in 1993.

Today, Mathew Street is one of Liverpool's most popular nightlife destinations.

20/07/2024

On this day 1333 during the
The Scottish-held town of surrendered to forces, ending a siege
The lasted four months in 1333 and resulted in the Scottish-held town of Berwick-upon-Tweed being captured by an English army commanded by (r. 1327–1377). The year before had seized the , surreptitiously supported by Edward III. He was shortly thereafter expelled from the kingdom by a popular uprising
Edward III used this as a casus belli and invaded Scotland. The immediate target was the strategically important border town of Berwick.
An advance force laid siege to the town in March. Edward III and the main English army joined it in May and pressed the attack. A large Scottish army advanced to relieve the town. After unsuccessfully manoeuvring for position and knowing that Berwick was on the verge of surrender, the Scots felt compelled to attack the English at Halidon Hill on 19 July. The Scots suffered a crushing defeat, and Berwick surrendered on terms the next day. Balliol was reinstalled as king of Scotland after ceding a large part of his territory to Edward III and agreeing to do homage for the balance.
After the capitulation of Berwick, Edward III appointed Henry Percy as Constable, with Sir Thomas Grey as his deputy
Considering his part done and short of money, he left for the south. On 19 June 1334, Balliol did homage to Edward for Scotland, after formally ceding to England the eight counties of south-east Scotland
Balliol ruled a truncated Scottish state from Perth, from where he attempted to put down the remaining resistance. Seton in turn did homage to Balliol. Balliol was deposed again in 1334, restored again in 1335 and finally deposed in 1336, by those loyal to David II. Berwick was to remain the military and political headquarters of the English on the border until 1461, when it was returned to the Scottish by King Henry VI (r. 1422–1461)

20/07/2024

Ruins in Jarrow caused by an arson attack Photo- Newcastle Chronicle, 28 May 1921
17 Sinn Féiners arrested in London as wave of arson attacks hits Newcastle upon Tyne
London, 23 May 1921 – Scotland Yard authorities believe that they have succeeded in capturing two of the leaders of the IRA in London.
The pair were apprehended, along with 15 other members of Sinn Féin in London, in a round-up by authorities on 21 May. Five of those arrested have since been released, while six have been deported to Ireland.
The police raids came as a response to a series of attacks across London suburbs last week. Reports from Lewisham, Shepherd’s Bush, St Alban’s and elsewhere give accounts of masked attackers, believed to be members of the IRA, calling to the houses of RIC men or former RIC men and firing shots at the inhabitants. A number of people were injured; one man, Horace McNeil, the father-in-law of Charles Cornis, who is currently serving in Ireland, was shot in the abdomen and died a few days later in hospital.
The offices of the Irish Self-Determination League were a conspicuous focus of the police raids. Most of the officers of the League were arrested and all documents were removed from the premises. Bryan O’Kennedy, acting general secretary, is among the deportees. No charge has been levelled against any of those arrested.
There has been a further outbreak of incendiarism in the north of England. On Tyneside at least 31 fires were set on the night of 22 May in Newcastle, Wallsend, North Shields, Jarrow and Houghstone Spring. The most serious fires occurred in Jarrow, where a gas main was blown up shortly before midnight and the street lighting in the town went down for over an hour.
In Newcastle, attackers made an attempt to set fire to a large drapery story on Clayton Street. A window at the back of the store was broken and soft goods inside set alight, but the fire was dealt with before it could do much damage.
Two arrests have been made in Wallsend in connection with the incidents.
Similar recent attacks in northern England have been attributed to the IRA.

20/07/2024

Queen Victoria Monument, Newcastle upon Tyne
The bronze statue of Queen Victoria in St Nicholas' Square, Newcastle, was unveiled on the 24th of April 1903.
"The gift of W.H. Stephenson to commemorate 500 years of the shrievalty of Newcastle 1400-1900."
Designed by Alfred Gilbert, it is a variant of a statue in Wi******er Castle. The statue is II* listed.
In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato blight
In the next four years, at least a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine.
In Ireland, Victoria was labelled "The Famine Queen".
In January 1847 she personally donated £2,000 (equivalent to between £178,000 and £6.5 million in 2016) to the British Relief Association, more than any other individual famine relief donor, and also supported the Maynooth Grant to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland, despite Protestant opposition.
The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home, was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century.
By 1846, Peel's ministry faced a crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws. Many Tories—by then known also as Conservatives—were opposed to the repeal, but Peel, some Tories (the free-trade oriented liberal conservative "Peelites"), most Whigs and Victoria supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after the repeal narrowly passed, and was replaced by Lord John Russell
Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain
She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans, who were related by marriage through the Coburgs
Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances.
Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success, but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism.

03/07/2024

The Cavern Club opened in 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 50s and early 1960s.

The club became closely associated with Merseybeat and regularly played host to The Beatles in their early years.

The Cavern Club closed and opened on a new site in 1973 and was filled in during construction work on the Merseyrail underground rail loop. It reopened in 1984.

Alan Sytner, having been inspired by the jazz district in Paris where there were a number of clubs in cellars, returned to Liverpool and strove to open a club similar to the Le Caveau de la Huchette jazz club.

He eventually found a fruit warehouse where people were leasing the cellar, which had been used as an air raid shelter in World War II. Tropical fruit used to be stored there and during warm months the scent from the ripening fruit was absorbed into the sandstone brickwork.

When the club was packed with dancing and smoking teenagers, the heat produced resulted in the bricks sweating and the sweet fruit odour was absorbed into their clothing.

After leaving, fans at bus stops could be identified as having visited the club by the pleasant 'Cavern Perfume' on their clothes.

The club opened on 16 January 1957 and the first act to perform there was the Merseysippi Jazz Band.

Local commercial artist Tony Booth created the poster artwork for the opening night.

He later became the original poster artist for the Beatles.

What started as a jazz club eventually became a hangout for skiffle groups.

Whilst playing golf with Sytner's father, Dr. Joseph Sytner, Nigel Walley – who had left school at 15 to become an apprentice golf professional at the Lee Park Golf Club – asked Dr. Sytner if his son could book The Quarrymen at The Cavern, which was one of three jazz clubs he managed. Dr. Sytner suggested that the band should play at the golf club first, so as to assess their talent.

Sytner phoned Walley a week later and offered the band an interlude spot playing skiffle between the performances of two jazz bands on Wednesday, 7 August 1957.

03/07/2024

Swans, swans, swans in Stratford upon Avon

03/07/2024

Radcliffe Camera

The Radcliffe Camera (colloquially known as the "Rad Cam" or "The Camera"; from Latin camera, meaning 'room') is a building of the University of Oxford, England, designed by James Gibbs in a Baroque style and built in 1737–49 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. It is sited to the south of the Old Bodleian, north of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, and between Brasenose College to the west and All Souls College to the east. The Radcliffe Camera's circularity, its position in the heart of Oxford, and its separation from other buildings make it the focal point of the University of Oxford, and as such it is almost always included in shorthand visual representations of the university. The Radcliffe Camera is not open to the public.

03/06/2024

George Alcock MacDonnell died on 3 June 1899 in London
George was an Anglican clergyman as well as a chess master and writer.
He tied for 3rd-4th at London 1862 (the 5th British Chess Congress, Adolf Anderssen won), won two matches against George Henry Mackenzie (8 : 5) and (6.5 : 3.5) both at Dublin 1862, shared 1st with Wilhelm Steinitz at Dublin 1865, but lost a play-off game to him there, tied for 2nd-3rd at London 1866 (the 1st British Chess Championship, Cecil De Vere won), tied for 3rd-4th at Dundee (Gustav Neumann won), tied for 3rd-5th at London 1868/69 (the 2nd BCA Challenge Cup, Joseph Henry Blackburne and De Vere won), shared 3rd at London 1872 (Steinitz won), and took 4th at London 1872 (the 4th BCA Challenge Cup, John Wisker and De Vere won).
MacDonnell won a match against Wisker (3.5 : 0.5) at Bristol 1873, and lost a rematch (6 : 9) at London 1874.
He took 4th at London 1876 (Blackburne won), took 4th at London 1879 (Quadrangular, Henry Bird won), took 3rd at London 1883 (Vizayanagaram, Curt von Bardeleben won), took 4th at Bath 1884 (Wayte won), tied for 5-6th at London 1885 (Isidor Gunsberg won), shared 1st at London 1866, tied for 7-8th at London 1886 (Blackburne and Amos Burn won), lost a match to Blackburne (1.5 : 2.5) at London 1887, and took 6th at Stamford 1887 (Joseph Henry Blake won).
He led a chess column in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News for many years. He wrote two books: Chess Life Pictures (London 1883) and Knights and Kings of Chess (London 1894).
After a series of curacies (including St Peter's Church, Walworth and St Pancras Old Church), MacDonnell was vicar of Bisbrooke in Rutland, 1887-99.

01/06/2024

Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Windermere and Bowness, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east and within the Lake District National Park. The town was historically part of the county of Westmorland and it also forms an urban area with Windermere. The town had a population of 3,814 in the 2011 Census.

'Bowness' (originally 'Bulnes') means " 'the headland where the bull grazes', from OE 'bula', 'bull' and OE 'næss', 'headland', perhaps referring to the keeping of the parish bull."

The 'on-Windermere' part was added later (found on the Ordnance Survey map of 1899).

The town's ancient parish church of St Martin was built in 1483 but of an older foundation. The former rectory is said to have been built in 1415.

A grammar school was founded in about 1600.
A new building was opened in 1836, funded by local landowner John Bolton of Storrs Hall. The foundation stone was laid by William Wordsworth.

During the 19th century, Bowness grew from a small fishing village to a town living almost entirely off tourism and holiday homes. It was the centre of the boat-building industry that provided the sailing yachts, rowing boats and steam launches used on the lake. A large number of hotels and boarding houses gave employment to the permanent population of the town. Queen Adelaide visited Bowness in 1840, staying at the Royal Hotel.

The arrival of the railway in 1847 in Windermere (the residents of Bowness had opposed a station in their own town) provided much of the momentum for the growth.
Bowness-on-Windermere became a civil parish in 1894 and an urban district council was formed for the town at the same time. In 1905, the council merged with that of Windermere, and the two civil parishes merged on 1 April 1974 under the name of Windermere.
The civil parish of Windermere is governed by a town council, Windermere and Bowness Town Council.

30/05/2024

Eastgate and Eastgate Clock in Chester, Cheshire, England, stand on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix. It is a prominent landmark in the city of Chester and is said to be the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben.

The original gate was guarded by a timber tower which was replaced by a stone tower in the 2nd century, and this in turn was replaced probably in the 14th century. The present gateway dates from 1768 and is a three-arched sandstone structure which carries the walkway forming part of Chester city walls. In 1899 a clock was added to the top of the gateway to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria two years earlier. It is carried on openwork iron pylons, has a clock face on all four sides, and a copper ogee cupola. The clock was designed by the Chester architect John Douglas. The whole structure, gateway and clock, was designated as a Grade I listed building on 28 July 1955

29/05/2024

Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral (formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery, dedicated to Saint Werburgh) is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since 1541 it has been the seat of the Bishop of Chester. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building, and part of a heritage site that also includes the former monastic buildings to the north, which are also listed Grade I. The cathedral, typical of English cathedrals in having been modified many times, dates from between 1093 and the early 16th century, although the site itself may have been used for Christian worship since Roman times. All the major styles of English medieval architecture, from Norman to Perpendicular, are represented in the present building.
The cathedral and former monastic buildings were extensively restored during the 19th century (amidst some controversy), and a free-standing bell-tower was added in the 20th century. In addition to holding services for Christian worship, the buildings are a major tourist attraction in Chester and the cathedral is used as a venue for concerts and exhibitions.

28/05/2024

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District, in the county of Warwickshire, England, on the River Avon, 91 miles (146 km) north west of London, 22 miles (35 km) south east of Birmingham, and 8 miles (13 km) south west of Warwick. The estimated population in 2007 was 25,505, increasing to 27,445 at the 2011 Census. The town is a popular tourist destination owing to its status as the birthplace and gravesite of playwright and poet William Shakespeare, and receives approximately 2.5 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

27/05/2024

The R759 road is a regional road in Ireland running south-east to north-west through the Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains, from the R755 near Roundwood in East Wicklow to the N81 in West Wicklow. The other route through the Wicklow Mountains from east to west is the Wicklow Gap which is crossed by the R756.
The highest point on the road is at the Sally Gap where it crosses the Military Road (R115), 503m (1,650 ft) (53.1376°N 6.3120°W). The road passes through some spectacular scenery, including the corrie lake of Lough Tay below Luggala mountain, in the Guinness Estate; the road gives access to several woodlands car-parks at Lough Tay, which are used to access the mountains around Djouce. The moorlands of the Sally Gap plateau, the Liffey Head Bog on the slopes of Tonduff, form the source of the River Liffey. The road is 27 km (17 mi) in length, and in winter can be dangerous or impassable as it is not treated by the Local Authority.

27/05/2024

Red House is a significant Arts and Crafts building located in Bexleyheath, south-east London, England. Co-designed in 1859 by the architect Philip Webb and the designer William Morris, it was created to serve as a family home for Morris. Construction was completed in 1860.
Following an education at the University of Oxford, Morris decided to construct a rural house for himself and his new wife, Jane Morris, within a commuting distance of central London. Purchasing a plot of land in what at the time was the village of Upton in Kent, he employed his friend Webb to help him design and construct the house, financing the project with money inherited from his wealthy family. Morris was deeply influenced by Medievalism and Medieval-inspired Neo-Gothic styles are reflected throughout the building's design. It was constructed using Morris' ethos of craftsmanship and artisan skills and is an early example of what came to be known as the Arts and Crafts movement.
A number of Morris' friends visited, most notably the Pre-Raphaelite painters Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, both of whom aided him in decorating the House; various Burne-Jones wall murals remain. While at Red House, Morris was involved in the formation of his design company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., and embarked on his earliest wallpaper designs. It was also here that his two daughters, Jenny and May, were born. Although initially intending to live there for the rest of his life, Morris found that the house proved too expensive to run and did not suit his lifestyle. After five years, he moved his family to a flat in Queen Square, Bloomsbury and sold the property.
Red House remained a private residence for various individuals from 1866 until 2002, during which period various alterations were made to the interior design. In 1950 it was designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage. From 1952 to 1999 the architect Edward Hollamby lived at the House, initiating attempts at preservation and establishing the Friends of Red House charity in 1998. In 2003, the National Trust purchased the property, undertaking a project of conservation and maintaining it as a visitor attraction with an accompanying tea room and gift shop.

27/05/2024

John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, philosopher, prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy.
His writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. He wrote essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, architectural structures and ornamentation.
The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art gave way in time to plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society.
He was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century and up to the First World War. After a period of relative decline, his reputation has steadily improved since the 1960s with the publication of numerous academic studies of his work. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.
Ruskin first came to widespread attention with the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), an extended essay in defence of the work of J. M. W. Turner in which he argued that the principal role of the artist is "truth to nature". From the 1850s, he championed the Pre-Raphaelites, who were influenced by his ideas. His work increasingly focused on social and political issues. Unto This Last (1860, 1862) marked the shift in emphasis. In 1869, Ruskin became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, where he established the Ruskin School of Drawing. In 1871, he began his monthly "letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain", published under the title Fors Clavigera (1871–1884). In the course of this complex and deeply personal work, he developed the principles underlying his ideal society. As a result, he founded the Guild of St George, an organisation that endures today.

27/05/2024

Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid, in Latin: Arma virumque cano ("Of arms and the man I sing").
The play was first produced on 21 April 1894 at the Avenue Theatre and published in 1898 as part of Shaw's Plays Pleasant volume, which also included Candida, You Never Can Tell, and The Man of Destiny. Arms and the Man was one of Shaw's first commercial successes. He was called onto stage after the curtain, where he received enthusiastic applause. Amidst the cheers, one audience member booed. Shaw replied, in characteristic fashion, "My dear fellow, I quite agree with you, but what are we two against so many?"
Arms and the Man is a humorous play that shows the futility of war and deals comedically with the hypocrisies of human nature

27/05/2024

Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (16 January 1853 – 6 November 1937) was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the Victorian era and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.
Born in London, he was the eldest of the eleven children of John Forbes-Robertson, a theatre critic and journalist from Aberdeen, and his wife Frances. One of his sisters, Frances (1866–1956), and three of his brothers, Ian Forbes-Robertson (1859–1936), Norman Forbes-Robertson (1858–1932) and John Kelt (Eric Forbes-Robertson) (1865–1935), also became actors. He was the brother-in-law of famed actress Maxine Elliott, the uncle of Roy Harrod the economist, and he was also the great-uncle of actress Meriel Forbes (granddaughter of his brother Norman), who married actor Ralph Richardson.
He was educated at Charterhouse. Originally intending to become an artist, he trained for three years at the Royal Academy. He began a theatrical career, out of a desire to be self-supporting, when the dramatist William Gorman Wills, who had seen him in private theatricals, offered him a role in his play Mary Queen of Scots.

27/05/2024

Caesar and Cleopatra is a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw that depicts a fictionalized account of the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. It was first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed in a single staged reading at Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 March 1899, to secure the copyright. The play was produced in New York in 1906 and in London at the Savoy Theatre in 1907.

27/05/2024

Ayot St Lawrence is a small English village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, 2 miles (3 km) west of Welwyn.
There are several other Ayots in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter, where the census population of Ayot St Lawrence was included in 2011.
George Bernard Shaw lived in the village, at Shaw's Corner, from 1906 until his death in 1950; his ashes are scattered there.
The house is open to the public as a National Trust property.
Other residents of the village included Shaw's friend, neighbour and bibliographer Stephen Winsten (1893–1991) and his wife, the artist Clare Winsten (1894–1989).
During the 1950s, the silk-maker Zoe D**e (1896–1975) moved her business to Ayot House.
The historical novelist, biographer and children's writer Carola Oman, Lady Lenanton (1897–1978) lived at Bride Hall with her husband. She died there on 11 June 1978.
The village has a timber-framed public house, The Brocket Arms, which may date back to the early 16th century.
It also offers meals and accommodation.
The village has two churches:
- Old St Lawrence Church, in the centre of the village, was partially demolished in 1775, because it was obstructing the view from Sir Lionel Lyde's new home.
Field Marshal Frederick Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (1865–1946), a British Army officer and Chief of the Imperial General Staff, is buried in the churchyard.
- New St Lawrence Church was designed in a neo-classical style by Nicholas Revett and features a Palladian-style frontage with Doric columns.

27/05/2024

Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; it is now a National Trust property open to the public as a writer's house museum. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited. The house is an Edwardian Arts and Crafts-influenced structure situated in the small village of Ayot St Lawrence, in Hertfordshire, England. It is 6 miles from Welwyn Garden City and 5 miles from Harpenden.
Built as the new rectory for the village during 1902, the house was the home of playwright George Bernard Shaw from 1906 until his death in 1950. It was designed by local architects and local materials were used in its construction.
The Church of England decided that the house was too large for the size of the parish, and let it instead. Shaw and his wife Charlotte Payne-Townshend relocated in 1906, and eventually bought the house and its land in 1920, paying £6,220. At the same time the garden was extended and Shaw bought land from his friend Apsley Cherry-Garrard, bringing the total to 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).
Shaw is known to have written many of his major works in a secluded, home-built revolving hut located at the bottom of his garden.
The tiny structure of only 64 square feet (5.9 m2), was built on a central steel-pole frame with a circular track so that it could be rotated on its axis to follow the arc of the Sun's light during the day.
Shaw dubbed the hut "London", so that unwanted visitors could be told he was away "visiting the capital".
After Shaw's and his wife's deaths, their ashes were taken to Shaw's Corner, mixed and then scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden

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Join Fashion Historian Amber Butchart and Makeup Artist Rebecca Butterworth at Kenilworth Castle as we show you how to create an Elizabeth I-inspired look at home.

Kenilworth Castle is one of the great historical sites of the United Kingdom. First built in the 1120s and a royal castle for most of its history, it was expanded by King John, John of Gaunt and Henry V. In 1563 Elizabeth I granted it to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who converted the castle into a lavish palace fit to entertain his queen. Although the castle’s fortifications were dismantled in 1650, many of the buildings remain unaltered since Elizabeth I’s reign, and the spectacular ruins reveal much of Kenilworth’s medieval and Tudor past.

Old St Lawrence Church is a ruined building in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and dates back to the 12th century.The building was partially demolished in 1775 by Sir Lionel Lyde, 1st Baronet, whose country house was nearby.It was replaced as the village's parish church by new St Lawrence Church, a neoclassical structure which Lyde had built on a nearby site.Although Lionel Lyde and his wife Rachel are commemorated at the new church, the old churchyard remained in use. Burials include Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (1865 – 1946), whose maternal grandfather was rector of Ayot St Lawrence. Earl Cavan was a Field marshal and his resting place is registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Although the Earl was not a casualty in the normal sense of the term, the entry refers to the "memorial to the casualty in the form of a large 7' red granite celtic cross".

If your pets are outside tonight ❄️❄️❄️ Go sit outside with them for a while - then decide if they should come back indoors with you

Wonderful post by English Heritage Sound on and switch off with Stephen Fry for a moment of contemplation from Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire 😌 Join English heritage this autumn at one of their former monasteries for an ‘hour of contemplation’ at those magnificent monastic sites. #rievaulxabbey #jorgenhartogstourguide #historicaltoursengland

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#OTD #OnThisDay #25February #1570 Pope Pius V issued a papal bull, Regnans in Excelsis, declaring Elizabeth I of England a heretic and releasing her subjects from any allegiance to her. #historicaltoursengland #jorgenhartogstourguide

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